Privacy Policy
Last updated: May 31, 2020
Your data is extremely important to me.
For that reason, we compiled this privacy policy to better serve those who are concerned with how their “Personally Identifiable Information” (PII) is being handled and used online. PII, as used in U.S. privacy law and information security, is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context. Please take a moment to read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect, or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website.
What Kind of Personal Data We Collect and Why We Collect It
Comments
When you leave comments on our site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, as well as your IP address and browser user agent string. This is to help us with detecting spam.
Contact Forms
When you fill in the contact form on our website, we’ll ask you for a number of pieces of personal information, such as your name, email address, as well as other details. Obviously, this is required so we can respond to your request.
If you don’t use or submit an online form on our website, no data collection will occur in that regard.
We will store the information you share with us in my website database, and a copy will be sent to our email client. Such storage lets me efficiently access your data and respond to your message request.
I will not use this data for any other purpose, without your express further approval. I will never sell your information to any third parties whatsoever.
I will only ask you for the minimum amount of information that we need to appropriately fulfil your message request. This will usually include your name, contact details, and any specific information in regards to your request.
Cookies
The Unorthodox Traveler uses cookies. These are small text files that are placed on your machine to help us provide you with better user experience. In general, cookies help us to retain user preferences, store information for things like comments, and provide anonymized tracking data to third-party applications like Google Analytics.
Embedded Content from Other Websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, blog posts, etc.) Embedded content from other websites behaves in the very same way as if the user has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Analytics
We use Google Analytics to better understand what people look for and search for on The Unorthodox Traveler.
When people visit my website, specific information about their visit (such as which pages they visit, how long they stay on the website, etc.) is sent in an anonymous form to Google Analytics (which is controlled by Google).
The data contains pieces of information about anyone who uses our website from your computer, and there is no way to identify individuals from the data. Since analytics information is not personal data, we don’t specifically ask for your prior consent.
In addition to Google Analytics, we use a number of industry-standard Google services to provide particular pieces of website content. These include:
Google Fonts: We may use one or more of Google’s web fonts to make sure that our website content is displayed in a clear and consistent manner across all the different types of browsers and devices.
Google Maps: We may use the mapping services of Google to provide dynamic geographic maps on our website.
Google Recaptcha: We may use Google’s Recaptcha service (which provides the ‘I Am Not A Robot’ functionality) on our contact form. This is to prevent the abuse of our contact forms by automated programs.
Each of these services involves our website making a connection to one or more Google servers, and may result in Google placing cookies on your device.
You can get familiar with Google’s privacy policy here.
Affiliates
Affiliate links include tracking codes. When you click on an affiliate link, you’re taken to a booking site or an online store. Upon purchase or booking, we’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost for you.
We only recommend products and services we believe in and use ourselves. That way, we help you make an informed purchasing choice. In return, by using our affiliate links, you help us support this website.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Whom We Share Your Data with
We don’t knowingly share your data with any third-party providers.
How Long We Retain Your Data
If you decide to leave a comment on The Unorthodox Traveler the comment and its metadata are retained for an indefinite period of time. This is so we can recognize and automatically approve any follow-up comments from you, instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
What Rights Do You Have over Your Data
If you have an account on The Unorthodox Traveler, or you have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have shared with us. Additionally, you can request that we delete any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where We Send Your Data
Your comments go through an automated spam detection software called Akismet. You can find their privacy policy here.
How We Protect Your Data
Dedicated security software: My website operates a dedicated security scanning and access control software. This software limits login attempts to our website, blocks potentially malicious attempts to access our services, and regularly carries out full file system scans.
Data encryption: The Unorthodox Traveler is secured with an SSL encryption. This means that all traffic to and from our servers is encrypted. The encryption also applies to our own administrative access to the website, as well as to that of users of our services.
If you have any questions in relation to this Privacy Policy, please get in touch via the information below: